Pursuing it with eager feet / Until it joins some larger way

Clark on Two-Level Subscription

Does your church have one statement of faith for elders and a different one for members? Are you so sure this is a good idea?

Dr. R. Scott Clark writes,

It is not obvious that establishing two levels of subscription, one for laity and another for ordained officers, is either biblical or consistent with the Reformation. From where in Scripture would one deduce that God expects one level of subscription for officers and another for laity? Certainly it is possible for one to be a Christian without affirming every proposition in the Reformed confession, but that is beside the point. On that rationale, why should we bother establishing Reformed congregations at all? If the Reformed confession defines what it is to be Reformed, then establishing two distinct relations to the same constitutional document would seem to be a recipe for confusion and effectively two churches within one. (Recovering the Reformed Confession:, p. 179)